Spanish cruiser Castilla

An unidentified Aragon-class (here called Castila-class) cruiser in the 1880s or 1890s, showing the appearance of Castilla
History
Spain
Name:	Castilla
Namesake:	Castile, an historical region of Spain
Ordered:	1869
Builder:	La Carraca shipyard, Cadiz, Spain
Laid down:	May 1869
Launched:	August 1881
Completed:	1881 or 1882
Commissioned:	1882
Fate:	Sunk 1 May 1898
General characteristics
Class and type:	Aragon-class unprotected cruiser
Displacement:	3,289 tons
Length:	236 ft 0 in (71.93 m)
Beam:	44 ft 0 in (13.41 m)
Draft:	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) maximum
Installed power:	1,400 ihp (1,000 kW)
Propulsion:	1-shaft, 3-cylinder, horizontal compound
Sail plan:	Barque-rigged
Speed:	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement:	392 officers and enlisted
Armament:	As completed, included 8 x 8 in (203 mm) 180-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns By 1885: 4 × 5.9 in (150 mm) guns 2 × 4.7 in (119 mm) breech-loading guns 2 × 87 mm guns 4 × 75 mm guns 10 × machine guns 2 × 14 in (356 mm) torpedo tubes
Notes:	460 tons of coal (normal)

Castilla was an Aragon-class unprotected cruiser of the Spanish Navy that fought in the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War.

Castilla was built at Cadiz, Spain. Her construction as an armored corvette with a central battery ironclad design began in 1869, with plans to give her 890 tons of armor and 500 millimetres (19.7 in) of armor at the waterline. In 1870, her design was changed to that of an unprotected cruiser or wooden corvette, and, after political events delayed her construction, she finally was launched in this form in 1881 and completed in 1882. Her original conception as an armored ship and the change to an unarmored one during construction left her with an overly heavy wooden hull that was obsolescent by the time of her launch.

She had two funnels and was rigged as a barque. Her machinery was manufactured at the naval shipyard at Ferrol. The original main battery of Armstrong-built 8-inch (203 mm) guns was obsolescent when she was completed, and were quickly replaced with more modern Krupp-built guns, with the 5.9-inch (150 mm) guns mounted in sponsons. Designed for colonial service, she was never intended to fight the kind of heavily armed, armored, steel-hulled warships she would face in the Battle of Manila Bay.

Castilla was commissioned in 1882. She spent her early years in Spanish waters as a part of the Spanish Navy's Instructional Squadron, making several courtesy visits to Mediterranean ports.

In 1890, Castilla was sent to the Philippines to reinforce the Asiatic Squadron. During the first two years of the Philippine Revolution in 1896–1897, referred to by colonial Spaniards as the "Tagalog Revolt", Castilla patrolled to intercept contraband destined for the Philippine insurgents and supported Spanish Army forces fighting ashore in Cavite Province on Luzon.